The average life expectancy of Americans is 76.4 years, but almost 62 million Americans have one or more types of cardiovascular disease (Barnett & Halpin, 2003). Among the more common surgical procedures performed among Americans with cardiovascular disease is the coronary artery bypass grant (CABG), at a rate of almost 600,000 such surgeries taking place annually and an expected 7 to 8 percent annual increase in the number of CABGs (Barnett & Halpin, 2003). Consequently, identifying the most effective postoperative comfort measures that can be implemented by nurses is an issue of significance that speaks directly to the strong focus in nursing of providing patients with interventions and services that maximize recovery, improve quality outcomes, and enhance well-being. The focus of this report is on a qualitative review of professional literature depicting and evaluating various nursing measures that increase patient comfort after a CABG.
The scope of the research is limited specifically to studies identifying nursing interventions that improve the physical and psychological comfort of postoperative CABG patients. The study does not address the benefits of the procedure, its short- and long-term impact upon health status and cardiovascular functioning, or nursing interventions that are not directly focused on improving postoperative comfort levels.
Several themes emerge in the literature regarding nursing care and interventions that enhance the postoperative comfort levels experienced by CABG patients. A major postoperative experience associated with CABG is increased pain levels (Reimer-Kent, 2003). Reimer-Kent (2003) noted that pain management is an important issue in patient care and a topic of significance in nursing practice and research. For CABG patients, postoperative pain is inevitable because of the associated trauma to many pain-sensitive structures. The nursing response to this problem, as described by Reim...